I was in a similar situation, I mentioned my cats loved boxes (to people without cats) they gave me a shoebox once and I thanks them for it, saying how much the cats liked it. From then on they gave me about one a month, I felt bad refusing so just put them in recycling one by oneI used to have someone who would bring me a bin bag full of shredded paper so that I could use it as bedding for my hamster. There was enough to furnish the cages of all the hamsters in the land in one bag yet I'd get one every couple of months for my one, solitary hamster. I don't know how big they thought a hamster is! I was too nice to refuse so I'd accept them shove it in the recycling bin